Lady Buffs close out tough stretch with lopsided home win against TWU

West Texas A&M closed out one of the toughest stretches on the schedule by flexing its muscle with a dominating 81-61 win against Texas Woman’s in a Lone Star Conference game at the First United Bank on Thursday night.

WT closes out its fourth conference game in the last seven days exactly where it wanted to be at 4-0 and all alone atop the league standings.

The No. 4-ranked Lady Buffs (9-0 overall) had won three straight road games, including a 75-48 victory at UT-Permian Basin on Tuesday. Returning home for the first time in conference play the focus didn’t lack.

“More than focus we wanted to see mental toughness,” said WT coach Kristen Mattio, whose team moved to 55-6 all-time against the Pioneers. “We’re fatigued from the four games in seven days. Three of those were on the road.

“At halftime we talked about pushing through and battling. The second half we cleaned up a lot of things up, especially on the defensive end.”

Fatigue showed at the free-throw line with WT going 15-of-26 and the Lady Buffs committed 20 turnovers. However, they had another outstanding shooting night, firing 51.8 percent from the floor.

The first run came in the way of Gruver graduate and junior Reagan Haynes. Haynes sparked a 16-4 spurt late in the first quarter and into the second quarter scoring all nine of her points in that span with three consecutive 3-point buckets. That burst gave WT a 26-15 double-digit lead that paced the Lady Buffs the rest of the contest.

But the night belonged to transfer Deleyah Harris, who was a mismatch for the TWU (4-4, 1-2) defense. Harris was quick to the bucket and aggressive on rebounds, ending her night with a season-high 20 points and seven boards.

“It’s been a little stressful lately,” said Harris, who was 8-of-14 from the floor. “We’ve been on the road so everyone has been stressing on finals coming up a little bit. “It was good to be back home. We stayed focused.

“I was able to run around tonight and get out in transition. When teams speed us up that is better for me. I was moving without the ball and that helped.”

Right behind Harris was sophomore sensation Lexy Hightower. Hightower, an Amarillo High graduate and two-time Amarillo Globe-News Super Team Player of the Year, has come into her own this season.

Even on a night when she didn’t shoot her best, going 5-of-14 from the floor, Hightower still managed to pour in 15 points.

“We’ve played a lot of basketball lately,” Hightower said. “We came out slow but we got it going in the second half. We got our offense going once we stopped thinking about it.

“Our passing is getting better by the game. Being 4-0 is a good feeling right now.”

On the defensive end, WT forced a season-high 27 turnovers, turning those mistakes into 33 points. WT also outrebounded the Pioneers 35-27.

“This first wave of conference was brutal,” Mattio said. But I saw improvement. “Now we get a chance to catch our breath, watch some film and get some good practices in before we head to Washington.”

Next Up: WT will take an 11-day break before heading to the Vikings Holiday Hoops Classic in Bellingham, Wash. The Lady Buffs will face Simon Frasor on Dec. 18 followed by a matchup with Western Washington on Dec. 19.